Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered at the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Thursday Afternoon, April 8, 1875.

There have been a number of items of interest touched upon by the brethren who have spoken during this Conference, and as it is a time when we meet together for the purpose of receiving general instructions, it seems to me very desirable that the time should be occupied in dwelling upon principles which immediately pertain to our condition and present circumstances. In the remarks which I shall make this afternoon, I trust I shall be led to speak upon those things which immediately concern us, and which pertain to our daily lives.

I rejoice exceedingly in this opportunity, that is, the opportunity of being present at Conference. I believe that I can appreciate it better than I could possibly have done had I been here all the time during the winter. I have, however, during my absence, enjoyed myself better than I could have expected. I have felt that the Lord has been with us as a people, that his power has been manifested in our behalf, and that, so far as the prospects of Zion in the future are concerned, we have abundant reason to be thankful and rejoice. I know that the hope is indulged in in many quarters that the Latter-day Saints are fast losing that faith for which they have been noted, and by the operation of which they have been enabled to accomplish the labors that have devolved upon them in the past in this country as pioneers, and as pioneers in the religious world. I am quite willing, myself, if it is any satisfaction to any individual to entertain this idea, that he should do so; but for myself, and I believe I speak the sentiments of the people, I never, in my life, saw greater cause for rejoicing in the cause of God than I do today. I am not in the least discouraged, but, on the contrary, I feel exceedingly encouraged. I know, it seems to me, better than I ever knew, that God is with this people, that he hearkens to their prayers, and that he watches over them. It is true that there are influences operating upon us at the present time that we have only recently had to contend with, they are comparatively new influences and, to a certain extent, the Latter-day Saints are unaccustomed to them, especially the rising generation. But it has been taught us from the beginning that Zion is to become a great power in the earth, and that she will triumph; but I cannot conceive how Zion can become that which we have expected, or that it will achieve the destiny predicted concerning it, unless it be by passing through ordeals such as those we already have to encounter, and others, still greater, that are yet in the future, by which Zion will show its superiority over every institution and power that exists on the face of the earth.

I have expected for years that the seclusion which we sought in coming to these mountains would be terminated. Everything in the predictions of the holy Prophets concerning the work of God in the last days conveyed this idea to my mind. I looked upon our retreat here as a temporary one, for I well knew from the character of the people and their achievements that, in a short time, we should have the world trooping to us; we should be like a city set on a hill, we could not be hid, and that the eyes of men would be attracted Zionward, therefore I have not been disappointed in witnessing that which we see around us today. It has come probably in some form that I had not looked for, because I could only take a general view, the details I did not understand, but that we should pass through ordeals that should test us, test our faith, test our institutions, test the character of our doctrines, test the practical value of everything connected with us, I never had a doubt; and so far as the future is concerned I look forward to an increase rather than a decrease of these things, to an increase of tests, a multiplication of ordeals that will be calculated in their very nature to test and try us and the system with which we are identified to the perfect satisfaction of everyone connected with it. How else could we expect that Zion should become a power in the earth? How else could we expect that that respect should be accorded to Zion which we are led to believe will be the case? How else will the wisdom and power that God will bestow upon his people be made clear in the eyes of this nation and of the nations of the earth only by these practical tests, by these trials, by surmounting these difficulties, and by showing a capacity to meet, grapple with and overcome every emergency and contingency that may arise? Can we achieve that distinction which is inevitably in store for us as a people if the predictions of the Prophets be fulfilled short of such an experience as this? I think not. The enemies of this work may indulge in whatever anticipations of our discomfiture or downfall they please, but as for us, let us take a practical, sensible view of the work with which we are identified, and prepare ourselves accordingly, so that when the hour of trial shall come, be it severe or not, we may be prepared therefore, having strength and faith sufficient to endure it, and to bear witness unto all men that we have not cherished this faith in vain.

There is this peculiarity about this work, that no power that has yet arrayed itself against it has succeeded in its attempts to gain advantage over it. It is true there have been seemingly temporary successes; there have been times when mobs and violent men have achieved a temporary success and when they have flattered themselves with the idea that their designs against this work have been successful. But one peculiarity has ever marked the career of this people, that is, that events in our history which have seemed to be deadly blows against us and the work in which we are engaged, have turned out to be magnificent successes for us as a community. Trace our history from the beginning, peruse it care– fully, draw the lessons from it which I believe are intended to be conveyed by it, and what do you see? The Church and Zion of God emerging from the difficulties, trouble and seeming disaster sought to be brought upon it by its enemies, brighter, stronger, more firmly planted, more united than it was when the difficulty commenced, or the trouble was first visited upon us. The loss of houses and lands, expulsion from homes that were dearly bought, had no such effect upon this people, produced no such thrill and such deathlike sorrow in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints as did the martyrdom of our beloved Prophet and Patriarch; had we lost our dearest friends; had we lost everything that we valued on earth, it seems to me it would not have compared with the poignant sorrow, the deep, heartfelt anguish that prostrated this people in the depths of humility when the news of the cruel murder of their beloved leaders reached them; yet deadly as that blow was, to all human appearance prostrating the entire people, who felt that they had lost those who stood nearest to God and nearest to them, God in his mercy, out of that great affliction brought forth a great triumph and raised up a man to take the place of the Prophet, who has been in some respects like Elisha following Elijah, possessing, as Elisha desired it might be the case with him, a double portion of the spirit that rested down on his master, Elijah. And God has led us, God has prospered us, and God gave us success that seemed to be commensurate with the depth of our anguish and sorrow, and lifted us up from the depths of humility into which we had sunk, and placed us upon the heights of gladness and joy, and caused us to rejoice as we could not have done probably under other circumstances. And so, when we were driven out of civilization so-called; when we wended our weary way through the wilderness, not knowing where we were going, it seemed as though the last blow had been struck and we had been left a prey to internal dissensions or to the violence of the savages. But God in his mercy, out of that seemingly great affliction, has brought forth great blessing and glory to us, and has honored us, has enriched us, has raised us up and endowed us with blessings that we could not have had where we lived; so that that great blow aimed at us by our enemies has been overruled to be the means of great and wonderful blessings to us, and as an entire people we rejoice today in the possession of a land that God has given unto us, to which he led us and which he designated by the finger of inspiration as the land which we should occupy, and which we this day possess despite all the machinations of the wicked and their efforts to strip us of all power herein. Until this day he has given unto us the supremacy in this land, from north to south, from east to west, and he has made it productive and fertile for our sakes. When we reflect upon our history since we came here; when we think of the many plots and schemes, of the many men who have lent themselves to these plots, who have done all in their power against and to entrap this people; when we reflect upon it all, so far as I am concerned, I am filled with amazement, and with thanksgiving to God our Eternal Father for his goodness and mercy unto us as a people. I know, as well as I know that I live, that no human power could have saved us time and time again as we have been rescued; that there is no wisdom of man that was equal to the emergencies in which we have been placed; but God, in his infinite mercy and wisdom, in his kindness and watchcare over us as a people, has, at the very moment when salvation was needed, stretched forth his Almighty arm. He has rescued us from the grasp of the destroyer when it seemed as though destruction was inevitable and we could not escape. The last five years have been as fruitful, probably, as any period in our history in events of this character. Time and time again has it seemed as though destruction was sure to come upon us, as though there were no way possible for us to escape; but God has heard our supplications and has opened the way of deliverance in a most wonderful manner, and has rescued us from the grasp of those who would destroy us. Others may not see the hand of God in these things; they may say that these things come about from and are the results of natural causes, but those who have prayed to God, whose hearts have been drawn out in supplication to him and who have waited tremblingly for the salvation which he has promised, have seen and they cannot but acknowledge the hand of God in these deliverances, because, as I have said, they have watched, waited and prayed anxiously and earnestly in the name of Jesus for deliverance, and when it has come their faith has been strengthened and their joy increased in the Holy One of Israel; because he has heard and answered their prayers: and today the Latter-day Saints are the people of all people upon the face of the earth who know that God lives, because he hears and answers their prayers. And he, it seems, is determined to have a people upon the earth who will be compelled to put their trust in him and not in man, because man’s power would utterly fail to save them, and no power but his can do it. When I look at all these things it is a matter of surprise to me that men cannot see the hand of God in this work. Yet there are many whose hearts have been touched by the evidences of God’s favor unto us, and they have been surprised and have expressed their wonder that we have been so signally delivered as we have been.

Now there is a great future in store for us as a people. God has said so, and his words cannot fail in being fulfilled. There is a destiny in store for this people that few can comprehend. We have to teach the world lesson after lesson that they have entirely forgotten, or that they never knew. We have to teach them and show them by our example that there is such a thing as living faith, that there is such a thing as trusting in God, being saved by him, that there is such a power as faith in the land, and that prayer, when offered in faith, is effectual in reaching him. We have to show the nations of the earth that God with a small people can accomplish wonderful results. When I think of our numbers, how few we are—we are a great people in some respects, but in numbers we are few and feeble—yet with this few people what is God doing in the earth! What a name he is gaining for his people, his servants! You may travel throughout the earth, in every land, among every people, and let it be known that you are a Latter-day Saint, and you will find that the fame of the people has preceded you, and you will find yourselves distinguished from everybody else. It is exceedingly wonderful that a people so small, numerically so insignificant, a people not wealthy, but it may be said poor, are so noted in the earth. Yet this is the fact, that God intends to make us still more so, he intends to give us a name and a place among the nations of the earth that shall be distinguished above all other people. We are accused, you know, of being disloyal. This has been a story told of us, a charge repeated against us from the very beginning, because men have thought it would be most effective in destroying our influence. The idea prevails in many quarters that we are scarcely as true to the government as we should be. I have heard it stated that were it not for these troops at Camp Douglas, Utah Territory would rebel. By such nonsense as this do men who oppose us seek to deceive the world at large respecting us and our motives and feelings. I have had occasion frequently to talk upon this subject. I have told men that, from my early boyhood, I have been taught to believe that the constitution of the United States was revealed of God, and that the destiny in store for the Latter-day Saints was to uphold constitutional government upon this land; and, that being the case, how could it be reconcilable with the idea that we were disloyal to the Government? But there is a class of men who consider everybody disloyal who does not dance to their tunes, and who does not re-echo the sentiments which they express and seem to entertain. We have a class of men among us here who talk about the one-man power and the tyranny that exist in the Utah Territory, but at the same time if an official were to come here and associate with citizens of this Territory, “Mormon” citizens I mean, they would put him under a ban and brand him as disloyal and unfit to hold an official position under the Government. And why? For years here it has been considered by certain officials as one of the best recommendations to the favor of those in power to hate and abuse the “Mor– mon” people of Utah Territory; and if a man were to dare to associate with “Mormons,” were to speak kindly of or to associate with them, and to treat them as he would other people he would be ostracized and banished, so far as association with them is concerned a non-intercourse act would be passed immediately. And these very individuals talk about the intolerance of the Mormons.

We have these things to contend with, we have these lies to live down, and as far as we are concerned, let them always be lies; let no man have it in his power to say that the Latter-day Saints are an intolerant, proscriptive or an unjust people. Never let this be said of us with truth; but if it be said, let our enemies continue to lie about us until they are tired of it, or until the world become sickened with the falsehoods that are told concerning us. And for us, let us pursue the path that God has marked out, being liberal, truthful, upright, dealing fairly, honestly and tolerantly with every man, so that every class of men who come into our midst may learn that we have received a religion that admits of toleration in the broadest sense of the word.

It has been a matter of considerable satisfaction to me to state that in Utah Territory our pulpits, stands, tabernacles and meetinghouses have always been open to every sect and denomination to come and preach their peculiar views, creeds and doctrines, and that our people have turned out in large congregations to listen to speakers or preachers of other denominations advancing their doctrines; and that not only have congregations of adults been furnished, but the children of the Sunday schools have frequently been assembled in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, that they might pur– posely hear and become familiar with the ideas and views entertained by other religious denominations. This stands out in marked contrast with the practice of almost every other sect, and it gives the falsehood to the stories which have been so frequently told about us.

Now respecting all these things that we are passing through, I recognize the hand of God in them all. I think that we have learned lessons of late that have been profitable to us. For instance, we now know and, while the recollection of the past few years is vivid in our minds we shall continue to know, how to value a just man who sits as a judge, and it may be that it will be so impressed upon us, that when power shall come into our midst, and come it will, as inevitably as the sun rises in the morning over the eastern hills so sure will power come unto us; but when it does come I trust that the recollection of the past will be vivid in our minds and that we will always seek to deal justly and fairly with all who may seek justice at our hands. It has been said that when we acquire power we shall be intolerant, as other sects have been. The Puritans, who fled from England because of religious persecution became, in turn, themselves the persecutors when they had the power. Roger Williams fled from them and took refuge in what is now Rhode Island. They persecuted the Quakers and others who came within their borders with an intolerance that was quite equal to, if it did not exceed, the intolerance to which they themselves had been the victims. And it has been said concerning us, that if we had the power, we would probably tread in the same path, that persecution would only harden us and make us deal with others with a severity which we would not know anything about had we ourselves not been victims beforehand. But I think that God in his mercy will strip us if there be any vestige of this about us; I hope he will, at any rate. If we achieve the destiny that is in store for us, certainly to maintain that character and to retain that power, it will be necessary that we should be just, upright, forbearing and tolerant, and that we should be willing that every man in this broad land should worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, whether his god be the workmanship of his own hands, whether it be the sun, the moon, some animal, or the God of heaven, with Jesus his Son, that we shall be willing that every man should worship God according to his own feelings upon the subject, so long as he does not interfere with us, or with others. I think we have learned this lesson in part. I think the lessons that have been impressed upon us have had an effect in this direction, at least they have had the effect to broaden us; and every lesson of this kind will have such a result as this with us as a people, and on this account I am thankful for them.

I am thankful today that we are not a State. There have been times when I have wished exceedingly that we might be released from territorial vassalage and be incorporated in the Union as a sovereign state. I have desired, and labored for it; but this last winter I have been exceedingly thankful that Utah was a territory and not a state. We are told to acknowledge the hand of God in all things, and I do not see why we should not acknowledge it in being kept in this condition of tutelage and vassalage as well as in anything else. But it may be asked—“Why do you think our condition better as a territory than as a state?” When I heard of events in Louisiana, the federal troops maintaining a government there, against which I was informed, and as I believed, the mass of the people revolted, I thought to myself—Better be an insignificant territory than a state if we cannot have the right of choosing our own rulers and have them act in the offices to which they are elected. Thanks to our insignificance federal troops have not interfered with us here; but if we had been a State, with two votes in the Senate, a vote or two in the House, and electoral votes in the Presidential Election there might have been a temptation to have done with Utah as with other states. But we had no vote; our delegate in Congress had no vote; we had no senatorial representation; we had no vote at the Presidential Election, and this denial to us of our rights, by keeping us in a Territorial condition, has thus far helped to save us. With such a feeling as there has been in this city and territory, for contesting elections, when they have been overwhelmingly on one side—twenty thousand and upward against two or three thousand; when men will contest elections under such circumstances, and endeavor by unjust means to wrest the power out of the hands of the people and defeat the will of the majority; when they will do this, as has been done in this Territory, it would not need a very strong pretext to have them to go farther, to have them appeal for Federal interference, and to try and induce the government to say—“Those whom you call the minority are the majority, they have been unjustly dealt with; affidavits have come here showing that the polls have not been managed properly, the ballots have not been deposited as they should be, and we must decide against you “Mormons” and the men whom you have elected, and put your opponents into power.” I do not say that this is the case in Louisiana, I do not pretend to decide upon that question, it admits of a good deal of argument; but I have been told by members of Congress who visited there—the Committee sent by Congress to investigate matters, that if the federal troops had been withdrawn from Louisiana this winter twenty-four hours would not have elapsed until the McEnery government would have been put in power, and the whole difficulty would have been solved. But the presence of federal troops maintained a government that could not be maintained in and of itself. What is the use, then, of being a State government if the Federal government is to interfere in this manner in State affairs? And with the causes that exist in Utah Territory to make interference popular and a thing to be approved of by thousands, a State government would not be so desirable. I have, therefore, so far as my own feelings have been concerned, been very much pleased at being a territory. I have seen the hand of God and his wisdom in this thing, when if my wish or my will could have been gratified we should have been a State long ago.

The Lord, in his mercy, will preserve us from these evils; in his overruling wisdom and providence he will deliver us until the time shall come for us to be a state if that be his will, and I doubt not that we shall be surprised at it ourselves. I have come to the conclusion, as one individual, that I shall not be anxious on this subject in the future, and shall leave it to the overruling providence of God to bring about when it shall seem good unto him.

As to some of the States in the South they are in such a condition that we, if we were in the same, should think our lot dreadful. I have heard stories of usurpation and tyranny by officials in those states that have caused me to think that, notwithstanding all that we have had to endure in Utah Territory, our lot has been a fortunate one compared with that of others. They have drunk the cup of humiliation to its very dregs. You know there was a time here when it seemed as though every effort was made to bring us under military rule in this Territory, and when the provocations endured by the people here come to be read in history surprise will arise in the mind of the reader, and admiration for the people who so patiently endured the wrongs that were imposed upon them, especially when it is remembered what power we hold here. Why, think of it, a few years ago a Governor came to this Territory immediately after a long and bloody Indian war, in which our citizens were massacred, their property stolen, their settlements robbed and their stock driven off; and immediately after that war a Governor came here who prohibited the militia, every able-bodied man in the Territory, from bearing arms—a most unheard of tyrannical exercise of power; and then a Secretary, while acting governor, afterwards repeated the same proclamation. And this people have borne it patiently and never lifted their hands against these contemptible tyrants. It was doubtless hoped that we would commit some overt act to provoke trouble, so that the federal troops could be brought in and be placed under the control of these officials, who for once in their lives happened to hold position. Not only this, but on one occasion when certain citizens met together as a company, to celebrate the fact of their band having got a new set of instruments a federal judge committed them to a military prison for violating this proclamation, as though a proclamation of the Governor was law! With as great propriety might an Executive claim that he has the power to restore the curfew, and say—“You must have your fires extinguished by eight o’clock at night, or we will put you in a military prison; and you must rise in the morning at the tap of the bell, or we will treat you as criminals.” If a Governor’s proclamation is law, and is to be respected as such, where will it end? Will it end with the imprisonment of men who act as militia men? No; if such acts of usurpation continue, no citizen will be safe, and they will end in the overthrow of liberty and constitutional right wherever permitted.

We have borne these things, and we have borne others, the recollection of which, were I to recite them to you, would make our blood boil. It is not necessary that I should do so; but in talking thus do we talk disloyally? American citizens have the right to talk about officials who trample upon their rights in this manner; we all have the right to question the acts of men in power; it is a right given to us, and the man is not worthy of the name of freeman who will not thus criticize acts of oppression and, in a proper manner, resent them and show his abhorrence of them. It is because they are violative of the fundamental principles of our government that I thus talk about them: and in any other Territory than this they would have provoked a storm of indignation that would have overwhelmed their authors. One of the lessons we have to learn is to have patience, but not to stop remonstrating, not stop talking, not stop appealing, not hold our tongues and let our children grow up with the belief that these things are right. No, proclaim against them, let it be known that they are wrong, that they are contrary to the law of the land, to the Constitution and to the principles of our government; let this be known, and let our children understand what is right, and all men recognize the fact that we understand our rights, whether they are denied to us or not.

I expect to see the day when the Latter-day Saints will be the people to maintain constitutional government on this land. Men everywhere should know that we believe in constitutional principles, and that we expect that it will be our destiny to maintain them. That the prediction will be fulfilled that was made forty-four years ago the seventh of last March, wherein God said to Joseph Smith—“Ye hear of wars in foreign lands; but behold I say unto you, they are nigh, even at your doors, and not many years hence ye shall hear of wars in your own lands;” but the revelation goes on to say that the day will come among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee unto Zion for safety. A portion of that revelation has been fulfilled, the remainder will be. The causes are in operation to bring it about. We are not alone in the thought that the republic is drifting steadily in that direction; that we are leaving the old constitutional landmarks, and that the time is not far distant when there will be trouble in consequence of it, when there will be civil broils and strife; and, to escape them, we believe, men will be compelled to flee to the “Mormons,” despised as they are now. Does this seem incredible? Why, look you, today, throughout our Union, the Latter-day Saints are the most lightly taxed of any people upon the face of this continent. I do not know a community as free from debt as we are. There are one or two States I believe free from debt, but they have had to tax heavily to free themselves. But as a Territory we have never been in debt, and although we have had many temptations to drift in that direction, not a bond belonging to the Territory has ever been issued; not a dollar is owing that cannot be paid. Our cities are out of debt; our counties are out of debt, and I hope they will continue so. Our legislators, county courts and city officers will doubtless take special pains to keep down expenses and let us be burdened as little as possible with taxation, so that we may be a happy and a free people. Let taxes accumulate, and there is a constant temptation for officers to steal your taxes; there must be men elected to take care of your taxes, and there will be hundreds of leaks by which your means will go without benefit to the community, therefore, let us be a lightly taxed people. We are that today, and that is one evidence of the good government there is in this Territory. We have peace here, and we should have little or no litigation if it were not forced upon us, and our courts, so far as litigation is concerned, would have very little to do from the Latter-day Saints; we would settle our difficulties by arbitration, and prevent litigation and money being spent therein. All the tendencies of this people are towards peace, and their aim is to preserve peaceful relations with each other and with the outside world, and we have shown this all the day long.

What is the case elsewhere? Why corruption stalks through the land, and taxation and debt are increasing. It is considered a light thing for a man to get his hand into the government treasury; that is all right, and if so he steal the funds of a city, county or State, they do not call it stealing, however: O no, that is a vulgar name; it will do for the man who robs his neighbor’s hen roost, but they have more fashionable language for the acts to which I refer.

Men in public life, under the present reign of extravagance, cannot meet their expenses, therefore they are exposed to temptation and are led to take advantage of their position. This is not always the case, there are many exceptions; but this is the case too frequently, and good men mourn over and regret it, and they would like to stem the tide and arrest this downward tendency.

This is a lesson that we have to profit by; our officials must be careful, and we must maintain a standard of honesty that does not exist anywhere else. It will not do for the idea to prevail that because a man has an office he has the right to enrich himself from that office. This has not been the case in this Territory thus far; and we may reasonably expect it will not be.

Now, my brethren and sisters, let us live for the destiny that is in store for us. Let us remember that God has a great future for this people, and that how soon it will be granted unto us depends upon ourselves. If we were prepared for it I know that that time would soon come, and we should have opportunities given us of doing good that we do not have today. But I am told that one of the effects of this ordeal through which we are passing, is that there are some young men, and possibly young women, who yield to certain temptations. Young men, who formerly would have been ashamed to be seen smoking on the streets or entering a billiard, a gambling, or a drinking saloon, are now seen in such places, and they do not scruple to use the name of God in vain, or to swear and be profane, and there are some who seem to imagine that it is an evidence of independence and smartness to indulge in these things; and it may be that they go a little further and are guilty of other acts of greater turpitude than these.

No man loses credit by being true to his principles. If he is a Latter-day Saint, let him act out his principles wherever he goes. If he does not believe in drinking intoxicating drinks, let him refrain from doing so everywhere; if he does not smoke, refrain from smoking; if he does not swear—which no man ought to do—let him refrain from it, no matter where he is, and let him be true to the principles of his religion always and under all circumstances, and he will gain influence that he would not have otherwise. Let us as a people take a course of this kind. But there is this tendency—“O, we must be like somebody else.” You can see that tendency at the present time in many things besides men’s conduct. There are men here who would change our city and make it like places they know. They would cut down our streets until they would not be fifty feet wide, and cut down our city blocks until they were like other city blocks, and would narrow our sidewalks, cut down our shade trees, and completely change the character of everything there is about us. They would rob the city of every distinctive feature, and fill the city with nest holes of vice. You can see this tendency here to imitate and do as somebody else does, instead of ourselves being the standard; instead of recollecting that God has chosen us and placed his name upon us, that he has called us to be his Saints, and that it is our duty to maintain our principles, and carry them out in our lives, doing that which is right, regardless of whether it may suit other people or not. It is our duty to have some mind of our own, and if we have a good thing not to be willing to part with it because other people make sport of it. I like our city, our sidewalks and the width of our streets; others may not, but that is the pattern and plan upon which the city was laid out. I would like to see everything connected with our city—and I speak of this because it is a case in point, and I merely speak of it to illustrate everything else—I would like to see us carry out that which is right ourselves. If we have ideas of our own, cling to them, and not abandon them, because they do not happen to be popular. And so with our practices. A man who does not smoke is not any worse for it; he is no less a gentleman when he goes into company because of that. He is no less a gentleman because he does not drink or because he does not swear, because he does not go into a gambling house or a house of ill fame; and how can a man who calls himself a Latter-day Saint, think that he is any more of a gentleman or any better a man because he can do these things when he, in and of himself, knows they are wrong. God has taught us that it is not good for us to do these things; he has given us counsel, he has given us a word of wisdom, and the man who thus disregards the word of God and his counsel does not show very great respect to him, and I do not imagine that God is going to show very great respect to him.

Let us be true to our principles; men admire sincerity, truth and uprightness, and they admire a Latter-day Saint who abides by his principles much more than they admire one who is not true to that which he professes; and you will never lose anything by telling who you are and what you are in a respectful manner, and maintaining that which is right. Of course we need not be bigoted or offensive, or run to any extremes.

May God bless you, my brethren and sisters, fill you with the Holy Spirit, and with desires to teach your children the ways of righteousness, and enable you to bring up a gener– ation that is healthy, pure, virtuous and full of integrity in this land which God has given unto us. That he may thus bless and preserve us is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Third Ward Meetinghouse, Salt Lake City, Sunday Evening, June 21, 1874.

I am here in this Ward, especially to talk to you, my brethren and sisters. I think I have been here only once before—at the dedication of this house. I have a few things to say to you, which I hope and expect will be received and appreciated according to their merit.

Perhaps quite a portion of this little congregation have left their homes, their friends, the lands of their nativity for the Gospel’s sake, for the sake of their own salvation and that of their families and friends who would go with them. I will appeal to the experience of my brethren and sisters who have received the Gospel, and ask them this question—Is not the Gospel dearer to us than anything else and all else on this earth? I think I can answer for all Latter-day Saints, and say, “Surely it is.” We hope for life, salvation and exaltation; we have the privilege of the Gospel and the ordinances of the house of God, while the inhabitants of the earth, with the exception of comparatively a very few, have not as yet availed themselves of this privilege. We preach the Gospel to the people, but they are so erroneously traditionated and so ignorant with regard to the facts pertaining to the revelations and will of God to the children of men, that they turn aside from it and think it no evil in so doing. They are so educated that they can neglect the Gospel, and feel measurably justified. This is an item of experience that we could bring before ourselves and others more fully than, perhaps, it would be prudent for me to spend the time to do this evening. But the Gospel to us is all in all. To know the will of God, and do it, is the happiest life that intelligent beings, the children of our Father in heaven, can live. There is no other condition in life that produces the same amount of good feeling, peace, happiness, joy, comfort, contentment and intelligence that the service of the Lord will bring. If a person is very poor and the love of God is within him, he feels rich and happy, and can measurably do without food, that is, longer and better than they can who do not have this experience of the love of God within them.

The person who enjoys the experience of the knowledge of the kingdom of God on the earth, and at the same time has the love of God within him, is the happiest of any individuals on the earth. We, who believe in and have obeyed this Gospel, look forward with the anticipation of obtaining a great amount of knowledge and wisdom. When we embraced the Gospel, the spirit opened up to our minds the fact that the wisdom, the knowledge and the power of God would increase in the midst of the Saints. This is our experience: I, knowing for myself, what the Spirit of the Lord brings to the understanding, testify what it reveals to others. The same spirit that is given to me, to enlighten my mind, is given to others; the same that is given to you I have received, consequently I speak from personal knowledge, from that which I have experienced and understand, and that I live in; and they who live in and enjoy the spirit of our holy religion can testify to this.

There is a portion of this congregation who are young, and know but little about the United States, or about the people there; and there is a large percentage of our community who know nothing by experience of the outside world. Ask them if they know anything of California? No. Anything about the States? No. Did you not come from England? No, but my parents did; consequently they have not experience. They have lived here, they have grown up with us. We have brought them up cheerfully and kindly, and instructed and taught them, and they have enjoyed the spirit of life and of wisdom and knowledge. These children who have been born here in the New and Everlasting Covenant, do not seem to realize this. This is for the want of experience, which they will obtain in future life. But those of experience, those who have left their homes and their all for the sake of the Gospel, are capable of judging better about these matters.

Now we, as Latter-day Saints, hope for salvation; we are living in anticipation of eternal salvation. We have left our homes and everything for the sake of our religion. Many women in our community have left their husbands; many men have left their wives and children; young boys have left their parents and brothers and sisters, and young girls have come away, and left all. They had friends, homes, plenty, parents, brothers and sisters; yet when the spirit of the Gospel came upon them they were so enamored with it, and it gave such light, knowledge and intelligence, that they were willing to forsake all, and follow with the Latter-day Saints for life eternal. This is the case with quite a portion of our community. We all, then, started for life and salvation, and we still have no other object.

Now, my brethren and sisters, I wish to ask—Do we not anticipate further knowledge, wisdom and blessings, and further communications by the spirit of the Lord, further de– monstrations and further witnesses, revelations, knowledge, etc., in this kingdom? We do, every one of us. We ask the question again, Do we expect that we have already become perfect, and that we are prepared to be numbered with the sanctified, and that we are now prepared to be gathered with God’s elect, and that, if we were to hear the voice tonight—“Behold the bridegroom cometh”—we should be numbered with the wise? Do we anticipate this? If we do we are wrong, for we are not prepared. We have passed through a great many scenes, we may say, of tribulation, though I would have all my brethren understand that I do not take this to myself, for all that I have passed through has been joy and joyful to me; but we have seemingly sacrificed a great deal, and passed through many scenes of trial and temptations, no doubt of this. We have had to suffer temptation more or less, and we have taken the spoiling of our goods joyfully. I have, myself, five times before I came to this valley, left everything that the Lord had blessed me with pertaining to this world’s goods, which, for the country where I lived, was not a very little.

Well, we have passed these ordeals, and we are still going along. Now have we profited by all that we have, passed through and experienced, so that we really do consider that we are sanctified and prepared for the celestial kingdom of God, or do we believe that there is something more yet to be done? Why, all hearts reply—There is still understanding in this kingdom; every heart echoes—We expect to learn more, we expect to receive more, we are not yet perfect, we are not complete in our stature as men and women in Christ Jesus. Now I will just ask, right here—Shall we ever be learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth? No, I say we shall not, but we shall come to the knowledge of the truth. This is my hope and anticipation, and this is my joy. The Latter-day Saints, as a people, in many respects are shortsighted, we are but babes or suckling infants in the Church and kingdom of God, comparatively, and especially since we have been in these valleys. We have enjoyed peace and plenty here; we have been blessed in our families, and in our flocks and herds, and in our fields and crops, and we have gathered around us the comforts, and even the luxuries of life, and some, to a small extent, wealth. Now, in the enjoyment of all this is the kingdom of God first and foremost with us? I can say, taking as a people, that our hearts are too much on the things of this life. We are, perhaps, too skeptical in our feelings, with regard to the things of the kingdom. We gather, as we anticipate, mental strength, and we think we are capable of judging where we are not capable of judging, and the riches, or the good things of this life, I cannot in reality say the riches, but a little of this world’s goods, sometimes blind the mind and becloud the spirit of a person. I can appeal to the experience of my brethren and sisters, aged and middle-aged and youth, and even to the children. Go to the child, and what does its joy consist in? Toys, we may call them, something that produces, as they think, pleasure; and so it is with our youth, our young boys and girls; they are thinking too much of this world; and the middle-aged are striving and struggling to obtain the good things of this life, and their hearts are too much upon them. So it is with the aged. Is not this the condition of the Latter-day Saints? It is. Well, now, take us as a people, we anticipate life eternal; we think we are the best people on the earth, and we think we have sacrificed more for our religion than anybody else, though in my belief, and in this respect I probably differ with most of the Latter-day Saints, for the simple reason that God, our Heavenly Father, in his religion, does not require men and women to suffer as false religions do. Take the religions of the heathen, and false systems of religion generally, and they require sacrifices that the Lord does not require. The Lord has offered his sacrifice in the character of his Son; but he does not require us to sacrifice our children or ourselves as the heathens sacrifice to their gods; consequently our sacrifices and our sufferings are not to be compared with those of the heathens. There are professing Christians in our midst, who are so strict in their religious notions that they would rise in the morning at five o’clock, and walk miles, if necessary, rather than miss their religious services; and they are those who are so zealous that they would measure the soil from here into old Jerusalem with their bodies if they could, to pay penance, as they call it. God does not require any such sacrifice as this; neither does he require any of these sacrifices which involve the shedding of blood or the loss of life. Such things do not belong to God’s religion, they come through sin and transgression. Perhaps they who show such manifestations of their faith strengthen it and do themselves some good. All that is required of us is to sacrifice our feelings and to overcome the adversary by subduing the lust within us for anything but the kingdom of God on the earth, the glory of God, and the salvation of our friends and families and of the human family from first to last; that our whole souls may be devoted to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth, and for the salvation of those who sleep, who died without the Gospel. We want to sacrifice enough to do the will of God in preparing to bring up those who have not had the privilege of hearing the Gospel while in the flesh, for the simple reason that, in the spirit world, they cannot officiate in the ordinances of the House of God. They have passed the ordeals, and are beyond the possibility of personally officiating for the remission of their sins and for their exaltation, consequently they are under the necessity of trusting in their friends, their children and their children’s children to officiate for them, that they may be brought up into the celestial kingdom of God. All that the Lord requires of us is a perfect submission in our hearts to his will. The Latter-day Saints say at once—“This is correct, certainly it is right that we should have no other object and aim in our feelings and affections but to do good and to promote the kingdom of God on the earth.” But the weakness of man is such, the humanity with which our spirits is clothed is so frail that we are liable to be overcome. These tabernacles are dull, subject to sin and temptation, and to stray from the kingdom of God and the ordinances of his house, to lust after riches, the pride of life and the vanities of the world, and these things are prone to be uppermost in the minds of all; old and young, even Latter-day Saints. The infant wants his toys, the children want nice dresses, and this is correct; and when we understand how to rightly use the things of the world, there will be the most beautiful children in Zion that ever lived on the earth. But we wish the wealth or things of the world; we think about them morning, noon and night; they are first in our minds when we awake in the morning, and the last thing before we go to sleep at night; and we dream about how we shall do this, and how we shall obtain that, and our minds are continually lusting after the things of the world. Is not this too much the case with the Latter-day Saints?

I will ask this question of the few who are here—What think ye, my brethren and sisters of experience, you that have enjoyed the light of the spirit, you that can see the travail of the Saints, do you think that this people called Latter-day Saints are traveling in the path that they should go in? Do you think that they offer their oblations and sacrifices to the Lord as they should? What do you think about it? What is the general expression through our community? It is that the Latter-day Saints are drifting as fast as they can into idolatry, drifting into the spirit of the world and into pride and vanity.

You read in the revelations given to John on the Isle of Patmos, concerning the latter days, that a voice was heard crying to the Saints in Babylon—“Come out of her, O my people, be not partakers of her sins, lest ye receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven,” etc. Has this voice been heard? Yes, the Latter-day Saints have heard it. Has the angel flown through the midst of heaven and delivered the Gospel to the children of men? Yes, we believe all this. Do we believe that the Lord sent his messengers to Joseph Smith, and commanded him to refrain from joining any Christian church, and to refrain from the wickedness he saw in the churches, and finally delivered to him a message informing him that the Lord was about to establish his kingdom on the earth, and led him on step by step until he gave him the revelation concerning the plates? Yes, this is all correct. Did Joseph receive these revelations? He did. Did the heavenly messengers come to Joseph, and commit to him the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood? Yes, we believe all this. Did they commit to him the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood? Yes. This is all correct, we believe all this. Did the Lord speak from the heavens through Joseph, commanding his people to gather out from the wicked before the scourges—sickness, pestilence, wars, bloodshed, and the various calamities spoken of by the Prophets and Apostles, should pass over the nations? Yes, we believe the Lord has called upon the people who received the Gospel to come out of Babylon, to separate themselves from the wicked and to stand in holy places preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man. All Latter-day Saints believe all this; then I say, if we do believe it, let us act up to and be true to our faith and to the knowledge that we have of God and his kingdom. This is what is required of us.

We have passed from one thing to another, and I may say from one degree of knowledge to another. When Joseph first received the knowledge of the plates that were in the hill Cumorah, he did not then receive the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, he merely received the knowledge that the plates were there, and that the Lord would bring them forth, and that they contained the history of the aborigines of this country. He received the knowledge that they were once in possession of the Gospel, and from that time he went on, step by step, until he obtained the plates, and the Urim and Thummim, and had power to translate them. This did not make him an Apostle, it did not give to him the keys of the kingdom, nor make him an Elder in Israel. He was a Prophet, and had the spirit of prophecy, and had received all this before the Lord ordained him. And when the Lord, by revelation, told him to go to Pennsylvania, he did so, and finished the translation of the Book of Mormon; and when the Lord, in another revelation, told him to come back, into New York State, and to go to old Father Whitmer’s, who lived in a place opposite Waterloo, and there stop, he did so, and had meetings, and gathered up the few who believed in his testimony. He received the Aaronic Priesthood, and then he received the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and organized the Church. He first received the power to baptize, and still did not know that he was to receive any more until the Lord told him there was more for him. Then he received the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and had power to confirm after he had baptized, which he had not before. He would have stood precisely as John the Baptist stood, had not the Lord sent his other messengers, Peter, James and John, to ordain Joseph to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Then, after some of the brethren had been out preaching, he had a revelation that they should go up to the Ohio. I knew of them, though I was not acquainted with them before they went up there. They were seen by some of my family, my father saw and conversed with them. Then the way opened for a large gathering in the State of Ohio. Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Samuel Peterson, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, and a few others, went up there and preached the Gospel, and they came among the members of the society called Campbellites, formerly mem– bers of the Close Communion Baptists, their leader’s name being Alexander Campbell. This man preached the doctrine that baptism was for the remission of sins, and that split the Church; but when the brethren came to these societies and taught them, not only baptism for the remission of sins, but the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, they believed it, and were baptized for the remission of their sins, and received the laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost, and then received other ordinances.

Then the Lord revealed to Joseph to go out to the Ohio, and he went up; and after he went up he then understood and was taught of the Lord to send men to the west to hunt out a place for the Center Stake of Zion. They went according to the revelations that Joseph received, and finally Joseph went up to meet them, in Independence, Jackson County, Mo., on the borders of the Lamanites. You can read all this in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. Then he had not received all at this time, and at the time that Zion’s Camp, as it is called, went up to Missouri, in 1834, so far as I am aware, Joseph had never received any intimation as to there being a Patriarch in the Church. On our return home from Missouri, my brother Joseph Young, while conversing with me, asked if it would be right for our father to give us a blessing. Said he—“I feel just as though I want my father to give me a patriarchal blessing.” When we reached Kirtland we talked with Joseph on the subject, and he said, “Certainly,” and finally we appointed a day, and brother Joseph, the Prophet, came to where we met and ordained my father a Patriarch, and he was the first man ordained to the office of Patriarch in the Church, and he blessed his children; and soon after this Joseph ordained his father a patriarch and his father called his children together and blessed them. Then Joseph had another revelation, that a record should be kept, and when this was revealed to him, he then had his father call his house together again, and blessed them over and a record was kept of it. This is to show you, and especially those who have no experience in the Church, how the Lord has led this people along, led them along, led them along.

We were driven from Missouri after Joseph went up there, and we came to Nauvoo, and the Twelve went to England. While we were in England, I think, the Lord manifested to me by visions and his Spirit, things that I did not then understand. I never opened my mouth to any person concerning them, until I returned to Nauvoo. Joseph had never mentioned this, there had never been a thought of it in the Church that I knew anything about at that time. But I had this for myself, and I kept it to myself, and when I returned home and Joseph revealed these things to me, I then understood the reflections that were upon my mind while in England. But this was not until after I had told him what I understood. I saw that he was after something by his conversation, leading my mind along, and others, to see how we could bear this. This was in 1841; the revelation was given in 1843, but the doctrine was revealed before this; and when I told Joseph what I understood, which was right in front of my house in the street, as he was shaking hands and leaving me, he turned round and looked me in the eyes, and says he—“Brother Brigham, are you speaking what you understand—are you in earnest?” Says I—“I speak just as the Spirit manifests to me.” Says he—“God bless you, the Lord has opened your mind,” and he turned and went off.

About this time came a revelation concerning baptism for the dead. I know that in my traveling and preaching, many a time, I have stopped by beautiful streams of clear, pure water, and have said to myself, “How delightful it would be to me to go into this, to be baptized for the remission of my sins.” When I got home Joseph told me it was my privilege. At this time came a revelation, that the Saints could be baptized and rebaptized when they chose, and then that we could be baptized for our dear friends, but at first it was not revealed that a record should be kept of those who were baptized; but when he received an additional revelation to that effect, then a record was kept. Hundreds and thousands, I suppose, were baptized before any record was kept at all, and they were baptized over, and a record kept of the baptisms and the names of the administrator, those who acted for the dead, and of the dead, and of the witnesses. You can read in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the letter that Joseph wrote when he was away from home in regard to having witnesses at these baptisms. I relate this to show you that the Lord did not reveal everything at once; but I need not dwell on this any longer.

I will now say to my brethren and sisters, the Lord, in the first place, commenced to bring the people together upon the ground of union and oneness; but they could not bear this. You can read, on page 161, of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, a revelation given to the Colesville Branch. Leman Copley had a tract of land that was to be given to the Saints, and they were to build up a stake of Zion until there was another place prepared for the Center Stake; but he apostatized and the people went away. Before this the Lord revealed to Joseph, that the people would gather out from Babylon, and establish the kingdom of God upon the principles of heaven. They went up to Jackson County, Mo., with this in their faith, and with the express understanding that when they got there, everything was to be laid at the feet of the Bishop, not at the feet of the Apostles, as they did anciently. Then, you know, they sold all they had, and brought their substance and laid it at the feet of the Apostles. The revelation given through Joseph was to lay all at the feet of the Bishop, who was to distribute it among the people, according to the revelation given for that purpose, for their benefit. But they could not bear this, consequently they were driven from Jackson County, and assembled again, some in Caldwell, and some in Davies County, and finally they were driven from the State. This was in the fall of 1838. I recollect, in Far West, Joseph, talking upon these matters, said—“The people cannot bear the revelations that the Lord has for them. There were a great many revelations if the people could bear them.” I think it was the eighth day of July, 1831, Joseph had a revelation that the people should consecrate their surplus property for the building of the Temple there in Far West, for the support of the Priesthood, for the paying of the debts of the Presidency, etc., which I could give an account of, for I was present when it came. Joseph was doing business in Kirtland, and it seemed as though all creation was upon him, to hamper him in every way, and they drove him from his business, and it left him so that some of his debts had to be settled afterwards; and I am thankful to say that they were settled up; still further, we have sent East to New York, to Ohio, and to every place where I had any idea that Joseph had ever done business, and inquired if there was a man left to whom Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, owed a dollar, or a sixpence. If there was we would pay it. But I have not been able to find one. I have advertised this through every neighborhood and place where he formerly lived, consequently I have a right to conclude that all his debts were settled.

We will now pass on. You know the history with regard to our leaving Nauvoo. Now I have it in my mind to ask the question of the Latter-day Saints—Are they in earnest? Do they mean what they say, when they say they believe that brother Brigham Young is the legal successor of Joseph Smith, the Prophet? We believe in Joseph the Prophet; he sealed his testimony with his blood, consequently we can, with impunity, believe on him a little better than if he were living. When he was living, his testimony was not in force upon the people as it is now. But is brother Brigham the legal successor of brother Joseph? This people, called Latter-day Saints, by their acts, by their voting, say they believe he is. Well, we will admit the fact. I have a little to say, then, and shall come back to former days with regard to the duties of the individual who leads the kingdom of God on the earth.

In all ages of the world that we have any knowledge of, when there was a people on the earth whom God acknowledged as his people, he has invariably dictated them in spiritual and in temporal things. This question was agitated year after year in the days of Joseph. The first two Bishops in the Church—Edward Partridge was the first—I was well acquainted with him, and Newel K. Whitney was the second—questioned the propriety of Joseph having anything to do with temporal things. Joseph would argue the case with them a little, and tell them how things were, and bring up Scripture to show them that it could not be otherwise—that it was impossible for the Lord to dictate people unless he dictated them in temporal affairs. The very first act after believing is a temporal act. After I hear the Gospel preached and believe it, I go down into the waters of baptism, which is a temporal act: it is an act that pertains to my will and my body, I will that my body shall go down into the water and be immersed for the remission of my sins, consequently I have to go to the Elder who taught me the Gospel, the spiritual portion of the kingdom, and apply to him to administer this temporal ordinance, and he has to do it; having taught the doctrine he officiates in the act, and you will find it through life, every circumstance, in every case the man that dictates the spiritual kingdom of God, must dictate the temporal affairs, it cannot be otherwise. I say this to you, because the idea in the minds of a few of the people is—“Brigham ought not to meddle with temporal affairs.” They said so to Joseph, and they said so much about it, that I went into the Temple at Kirtland, and challenged the men who were querying on this, to prove or bring up one instance where God did not manifest his will concerning temporal things whenever he made known his will to the children of men for establishing his kingdom on the earth. They always came to the floor; they had to do it, there was nothing else for them; it prostrated every person. There were William E. McLellin, John F. Boynton, and Lyman Johnson, who belonged to the Twelve, Frederick G. Williams, second counselor to Joseph, and two-thirds of the High Council all talking about this, and I went into the Temple and just challenged them to show wherein the Lord ever conferred upon any man in the world the power to dictate in spiritual affairs, that he did not in temporal affairs? They could not do it. I told them they could not draw the line between the spiritual and the temporal. All things were created first spiritual, and then temporal. Everything in the spirit world was presented as we see it now, and this temporal earth was presented there. We were in the spirit world, and we came here into this time, which is in eternity, nothing in the world only a change of time and seasons allotted to a change of being that makes it time to us. It is in eternity, and we are just as much in eternity now, as we shall be millions of years hence. But it is time measured to finite beings, and it is changeable, and we call it temporal, while the fact is it is all spiritual in the first place, then temporal, then spiritual, and made immortal, consequently you cannot divide them. I say this for those to reflect upon who think that there is a difference between temporal and spiritual things. I do not say, for I do not know, that there any such here.

Now we come to our present condition. You know the past. These children who were born in this city or Territory, know what they can remember, and many of them are old enough to have many reflections and can see and understand a great many things; but the older ones know that this people have drifted just as far as they can without a reformation. Every spiritual mind knows this. I will now say to my brethren and sisters, that while we were in Winter Quarters, the Lord gave to me a revelation just as much as he ever gave one to anybody. He opened my mind, and showed me the organization of the kingdom of God in a family capacity. I talked it to my brethren; I would throw out a few words here, and a few words there, to my first counselor, to my second counselor and the Twelve Apostles, but with the exception of one or two of the Twelve, it would not touch a man. They believed it would come, O yes, but it would be by and by. Says I, “Why not now?” If I had been worth millions when we came into this valley and built what we now call the “Old Fort,” I would have given it if the people had been prepared to then receive the kingdom of God according to the pattern given to Enoch. But I could not touch them. One would say, “I am for California,” another one, “I am for gold,” and I am for this and I am for that; and some used their influence in trying to persuade others to go to California. They said—“You can’t stay here, you can’t raise anything here, it is too cold, too frosty, these mountains are not fit to live in, this is not the place for white people, let us go to California and get some gold,” etc.

Now I am going to tell a dream that I had, which I think is as applicable, to the people today—the 21st day of June, 1874, as when I had it. There were so many going to California, and going this way and that way, and they did not know what they wanted, and said I—“stay here, we can raise our food here, I know it is a good stock country, a good sheep country, and as good a country for raising silk as there is in the world, and we shall raise some of the best of wheat. There stands a man—Burr Frost, and there is Truman O. Angell, who were present at the time. Said I, “We can raise all we want here, do not go away, do not be discouraged.” That was when the pioneers came; the next year, it was California, California, California, California. “No,” said I, “stay here.” After much thought and reflection, and a good deal of praying and anxiety as to whether the people would be saved after all our trouble in being driven into the wilderness, I had a dream one night, the second year after we came in here. Captain Brown had gone up to the Weber, and bought a little place belonging to Miles Goodyear. Miles Goodyear had a few goats, and I had a few sheep that I had driven into the Valley, and I wanted to get a few goats to put along with the sheep. I had seen Captain Brown and spoken to him about the goats, and he said I could have them. Just at that time I had this dream, which I will now relate. I thought I had started and gone past the Hot Springs, which is about four miles north of this city. I was going after my goats. When I had gone round the point of the mountain by the Hot Springs, and had got about half a mile on the rise of ground beyond the Spring, whom should I meet but brother Joseph Smith. He had a wagon with no bed on, with bottom boards, and tents and camp equipage piled on. Somebody sat on the wagon driving the team. Behind the team I saw a great flock of sheep. I heard their bleating, and saw some goats among them. I looked at them and thought —“This is curious, brother Joseph has been up to Captain Brown’s and got my goats.” There were men driving the sheep, and some of the sheep I should think were three and a half feet high, with large, fine, beautiful white fleeces, and they looked so lovely and pure; others were of moderate size, and pure and white; and in fact there were sheep of all sizes, with fleeces clean, pure and white. Then I saw some that were dark and spotted, of all colors and sizes and kinds, and their fleeces were dirty, and they looked inferior; some of these were a pretty good size, but not as large as some of the large fine clean sheep, and altogether there was a multitude of them of all sizes and kinds, and goats of all colors, sizes and kinds mixed among them. Joseph stopped the wagon, and the sheep kept rushing up until there was an immense herd. I looked in Joseph’s eye, and laughed, just as I had many a time when he was alive, about some trifling thing or other, and said I—“Joseph, you have got the darndest flock of sheep I ever saw in my life; what are you going to do with them, what on earth are they for?” Joseph looked cunningly out of his eyes, just as he used to at times, and said he—“They are all good in their places.” When I awoke in the morning I did not find any fault with those who wanted to go to California; I said, “If they want to go let them go, and we will do all we can to save them; I have no more fault to find, the sheep and the goats will run together, but Joseph says, “they are all good in their places.”

This will apply precisely to what we are doing at the present time. We are trying to unite the people together in the order that the Lord revealed to Enoch, which will be observed and sustained in the latter days in redeeming and building up Zion; this is the very order that will do it, and nothing short of it. We are trying to organize the Latter-day Saints into this order; but I want to tell you, my brethren and sisters, that I have not come here to say that you have got to join this order or we will cut you off the Church, or you must join this order or we will consider you apostates; no such thing, oh no, the Saints are not prepared to see everything at once. They have got to learn little by little, and to receive a little here and a little there. Since we commenced to organize at St. George, I have not had a feeling in my heart but to say to those who cannot see this order—Try and live your religion; get the Spirit of the Lord and keep it; humble yourselves before the Lord and get his Spirit; ask the Father in the name of Jesus to open your minds and let you see things as they are, and you will delight in it. And I say to all those who wish to receive the Order, come along and we will organize you, and we will do the very best we can for you. It is true that some who are in the Order talk very foolishly to those who do not feel to come into it; they throw out some very unbecoming expressions. This is entirely wrong. It is not called for, it is not needed, and it will not do the least good in the world. We must manifest and show to our brethren a purer life than we have heretofore. I will say to you, who want to be organized in this Order, we will not take one red cent from you, but the Lord will add to you riches and honor, if you will take counsel. As we have said from the beginning, we do not want a man’s farm, we do not want his gold and his silver, and nothing in the world but just his time. We want to dictate the time of the Latter-day Saints, to show them that we can come into the Order of God, and that we will be that people that the Lord has said with regard to temporal things. Speaking of the Latter-day Saints, the Lord has said—“I will make you the richest people on the earth,” and he can do it just as well as not, if we have a mind to let him. It is the time of the people we want to dictate.

I will branch off to another thread of the subject. Here is a brother who says, “Why, yes, you may have some of my property, or even take it all; but I want to be a man for myself; I do not want to be dictated; I want to preserve my own freedom; I do not want to be a slave.” What an idea! It is from the enemy, and because a person has not the Spirit of the Lord to see how things are. There is not a man of us but what is willing to acknowledge at once that God demands strict obedience to his requirements. But in rendering that strict obedience, are we made slaves? No, it is the only way on the face of the earth for you and me to become free, and we shall become the slaves of our own passions, and of the wicked one, and servants to the devil, if we take any other course, and we shall be eventually cast into hell with the devils. Now to say that I do not enjoy the volition of my own will just as much when I pray as I would to swear, is a false principle, it is false ground to take. You take the man who swears, and he has no more freedom, and acts no more on his own will than the man who prays; and the man who yields strict obedience to the requirements of Heaven, acts upon the volition of his own will and exercises his freedom just as much as when he was a slave to passion; and I think it is much better and more honorable for us, whether children or adults, youthful, middle-aged or old, it is better to live by and better to die by, to have our hearts pure, and to yield strict obedience to the principles of life which the Lord has revealed, than be a slave to sin and wickedness. All that the Lord requires of us is strict obedience to the laws of life. All the sacrifice that the Lord asks of his people is strict obedience to our own covenants that we have made with our God, and that is to serve him with an undivided heart.

I say this because I want you to understand our position. I am the director and counselor to this people for building up the kingdom of God on the earth. I am the one who will tell what shall be done, and how it shall be done, and any man who deviates or says that there is any design in connection with the United Order other than to put the people in a condition and situation to be better and freer, and in which they will enjoy more of the blessings of heaven and earth than they can out of it, does not tell the truth. You all know that it takes intelligence to enjoy. Persons in good-health enjoy their food. Why? Because they have sensibility and nervous feeling. Take that away and they would be like that stovepipe. Cut a hole in that, and put therein a nice beef steak, plum pudding, or a sweet cake, and would the stovepipe enjoy it? No. Why? Because it, has no sensibility. We enjoy because we have sensibility. Promote this sensibility, seek to get more and more knowledge, more wisdom, and more understanding, and to know the things of God. He is the author of life and of all joy and comfort; he is the author of all intelligence and of all good to us; then become satisfied to obey him, and seek to get more and more of his nature, and learn more and more of him. This will give us greater sensibility, and we shall know how to enjoy, and how to endure. I say, if you want to enjoy exquisitely, become a Latter-day Saint, and then live the doctrine of Jesus Christ. The man or woman who will do this will enjoy and endure most; and if they will be humble and faithful they will enjoy the glory and the excellency of the power of God, and be prepared to live with Gods and with angels.

We want to build up the kingdom of God on the earth. I do not know but I am spending more time than I should, but I must say some things more. This Third Ward is not organized. I do not know when it will be. We asked your Bishop, and he did not feel exactly prepared to enter into the Order. We know the reason why. Will he be prepared? Yes. I want to prophesy that he and his Ward will be prepared by and by, and I hope my prophecy will be fulfilled. He does not see things as quickly as I do. I will tell you what my position has always been. Before I embraced the Gospel, I understood pretty well what the different sects preached, but I was called an infidel because I could not embrace their dogmas. I could not believe all of Methodism; I could not believe all of the Baptists’ doctrines; there were some things they preached I could believe, and some I could not. I could not fully agree with the Presbyterians in their doctrines, nor with the Quakers, nor the Catholics, although they all have some truth. As far as their teachings were in accordance with the Bible, I could believe them, and no further. I was acquainted with the creeds of nearly all the various sects of dissenters in America, for I had made it my business to inquire into the principles in which they believed. I was religiously inclined in my youth, but I could not believe in their dogmas, for they did not commend themselves to my understanding, though a child I had attended their camp meetings, and had seen what they called the power of God. I had seen men and women fall, and be as speechless and breathless as that stove before me. I had seen scientists hold the lightest feather they could procure at the nostrils and mouths of females to see if a particle of air passed to or from the lungs, and not a particle was discernable. When a child I saw all this, but I could not believe in their dogmas. I could not say the people were not sincere in their faith and acts, but it was all a mystery to me. I was not old enough, and did not understand enough to decide. In the days of Joseph, when the revelation came to him and Sidney Rigdon, while translating that portion of the New Testament contained in the 29th verse of the third chapter of John, in reference to the different degrees of glory, I was not prepared to say that I believed it, and I had to wait. What did I do? I handed this over to the Lord in my feelings, and said I, “I will wait until the Spirit of God manifests to me, for or against.” I did not judge the matter, I did not argue against it, not in the least. I never argued the least against anything Joseph proposed, but, if I could not see or understand it, I handed it over to the Lord. This is my counsel to you, my brethren and sisters, and if I were sure my prophecy would be fulfilled, I certainly would prophesy that all here, who profess to be Latter-day Saints, will come into the holy Order and rejoice in it. And if you do not feel to come into the Order, assist those who do, and do not say anything against them. You who come into the Order, do not lisp anything against those who do not; if you feel right you will not have the least feeling against them. Come along, for, as I have said, if I do not find more than fifty men in the kingdom of God who will go with me to organize the Church and kingdom of God more perfectly, I shall go ahead. What for? More knowledge, wisdom, and perfection in the management and control of our temporal affairs. This is what I calculate to do, and I am going to do. Ask me if I am going into the Order with all that I have? Yes, as I told them in a meeting not long ago, I am going in with hat, coat, vest, pants, shirt, boots, and all I have. And if the question is asked, If your family do not go into the Order, what are you going to do with your property? I am going to seal it up to the kingdom of God, for I do not mean that the enemies of the kingdom shall have a penny if I can help it. I want it to go to the kingdom of God, I want it appropriated for the salvation of the human family, to build Temples, to sustain the families of the Elders who go abroad to preach; I want it to be used for the good of the poor and for the establishing of truth and righteousness on the earth. That is all it is for; I have no pleasure in it, I have no delight in it, it is nothing to me; I want everything that the Lord places in my possession, my time, my talents, every ability I have, every penny that he has committed to me to be used to his glory, and for the building up of his kingdom on the earth. I have nothing but what he has committed to me. What do you say to that, Jacob? Is that right? It is exactly. There is not a man here who has got his sight, hearing, taste and smell, but he is indebted to the Lord for them. The Lord gave us everything we possess, whatever ability or talents we have; our Tabernacles and all we enjoy, are the gifts of the Lord, and all should be devoted to the promotion of his kingdom on the earth, and I mean that mine shall be, the Lord being my helper.

I do not want to say to this Ward, you must come into the Order, or we shall not fellowship you, for we shall fellowship you if you do not. A short time ago, I said to those of this Ward who intended to be organized, go to the Eighth Ward and organize with them, but it was a misunderstanding, that I had dismissed Bro. Weiler from being Bishop here; and if anybody else understood so, I think they are mistaken. He is your Bishop still, and I charge him now in God’s name, not to trifle with the sacred things of the kingdom of God, or to throw cold water on them; if he does he will be left dark, and finally apostatize. I say to you Bishop and to the brethren and sisters, be faithful, live so that the Spirit of the Lord will abide within you, then you can judge for yourselves. I have often said to the Latter-day Saints—“Live so that you will know whether I teach you truth or not.” Suppose you are careless and unconcerned, and give way to the spirit of the world, and I am led, likewise, to preach the things of this world and to accept things that are not of God, how easy it would be for me to lead you astray! But I say to you, live so that you will know for yourselves whether I tell the truth or not. That is the way we want all Saints to live. Will you do it? Yes, I hope you will, every one of you. I say to the Bishop, here, go along and do not contend against the things of God. You and your counselors are disposed to argue in regard to the United Order. There should he no argument in this case; the Spirit of the Lord is the only thing that can enlighten our minds, and give us a knowledge of the things of God. No earthly argument, no earthly reasoning can open the minds of intelligent beings and show them heavenly things; that can only be done by the spirit of revelation. I testify this to the Latter-day Saints, and I feel to say God bless you, peace be with you. I have not come here to scold you, or anybody else. I am sometimes very rough in my language to the people, and I give them a rough scolding, but I do not wish any evil to the individual, it is to his wrong acts. If a person does wrong I am for exposing that, and chastening the perpetrator if he persists in it. I want wrongdoers to refrain. Now, I say, brother Jacob, teach the things of God. Do not have a doubt about this any more than about baptism, nor say a word against it. How many are there in this Church who are now wavering and shaking because they have spoken against the ordinances of heaven, and especially against that ordinance which God has revealed for the exaltation of the children of men in celestial marriage? Hold that as sacred as your own soul: if you cannot see the beauty and glory of it, and feel it in your own hearts, say nothing against it. This earth was placed in the hands of Adam and his sons, and he is the Lord of the earth; the male portion of the human family are the lords of the earth, and they are full of wickedness, evil and destruction, and especially in their acts towards the female sex. But God will hold them accountable. The fact is, let the pure principles of the kingdom of God be taught to men and women, and far more of the latter than of the former will receive and obey them. What shall we do with them? They want exaltation, they want to be in the great family of heaven, they do not want to be cast off, then they must be taken into the families of those who prove themselves worthy to be exalted with the Gods. Who is it that cannot see the beauty and the excellency of celestial marriage, and having our children sealed to us? What should we do without this? Were it not for what is revealed concerning the sealing ordinances, children born out of the covenant could not be sealed to their parents; children born in the covenant are entitled to the Spirit of the Lord and all the blessings of the kingdom. I know that our children, universally, have the Spirit of the Lord, and when they get old enough to judge right from wrong, if they turn from the good and promote evil in their hearts, then will be the time they sin.

Now, I say to you, brother Jacob, teach the things of God, and do not trifle with this; do not argue about this at all; if you do not see and understand, stand still and see the salvation of God. Labor and help those who wish to go forward, and the Lord will bless you in it. He will open your minds and give you light and understanding, and you will be far happier than the wicked. How blessed are you when you are for God and none else! Then you are ready for whatever he reveals. How sweet you can sleep! Your dreams are pleasant and delightful, and the days, weeks, months and years pass away easily and joyfully, you are so happy.

I pray God to bless you, Amen.